it appears that most of my time today is going to be dedicated to wiping Finn’s runny nose. It’s like a faucet. I did discover, however, that the British committee charged with investigating (pdf) Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has determined that Murdoch “is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.” I can’t pretend to understand the UK’s regulatory scheme, but it seems like this particular use of language might be important:
More than 6,000 possible victims [of illegal spying] have been identified and the police have so far made a number of arrests in connection with an investigation reopened in January 2011 – although no charges have yet been brought.
Media regulator Ofcom is currently looking into that issue, and reacting to the report, a spokesman said: “Ofcom has a duty under the Broadcasting Acts 1990 and 1996 to be satisfied that any person holding a broadcasting licence is, and remains, fit and proper to do so.
David Cameron’s official spokesman said the government would consider the report’s findings.
Asked whether the prime minister regarded Rupert Murdoch as a fit person to run a media company, he said: “That is a matter for the regulatory authorities, not for the government.”
So, it appears that the committee’s finding is not binding on the regulatory agency but it might inform their opinion. The committee’s ruling on Murdoch and his son was split, with all the Tories claiming it was partisan.
Labour MPs and the sole Liberal Democrat on the committee, Adrian Sanders, voted together in a bloc of six against the five Conservatives to insert the criticisms of Rupert Murdoch and toughen up the remarks about his son James. But the MPs were united in their criticism of other former News International employees.
I’d love to see a similar ruling from our own Congress. Wouldn’t you?
My nose has been running for two weeks. I only mention it because I know for a fact that it is caused by allergies.
Have Finn checked for allergies. Lots of pollen and mold around.
Murdoch is a POS and should not be allowed anywhere near a position of power. I’d love to see him jailed.
From my most recent post, Is The Preznidential Fix Working Too Well?:
All part of the neo-lib fix.
Remember:
Barack Obama was described way back in 1996 by Dr. Adolph Reed Jr. as “a smooth Harvard lawyer with impeccable credentials and vacuous-to-repressive neoliberal politics.”
Always remember.
The fix is always in.
You be bettah off if you do.
Bet on it.
AG
do you even know what neoliberal means?
Don’t forget the Jewish Bankers who run the world.
Here’s the difference between how you think and how I think, AG. You write: “never mind that this has been an obvious fact for at least 40 years”. Right, it has been an obvious fact for at least 40 years. Therefore, the fact that they are actually doing something about it now is highly significant. Same thing with that Mann/Ornstein piece the other day
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/g
IQAxCVUlT_story.html
Some people reacted — “Gimme a break! You mean you just figured this out after 30 years?” No, what’s significant is the fact that the Washington Post has now (emphasized “now”, as in “Be Here Now”) allowed such a piece to appear in that fish wrapper of theirs they call a newspaper.
Similarly, in Israel, for perhaps for the first time in its history, a split between the political ruling class and the military/security sector is going public in a big way.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/04/29/meir-dagan-defends-diskins-attack-on-netanya
hu-at-of-all-places-jerusalem-post-conference/
But this is nothing but a charade, of course, because if it were real it would have happened in 1967.
And the fact that these and other interesting things are happening now is all random noise. Because life is incoherent and absurd, and we are only a speck in the universe, etc.
Very insightful, AG. You have woken me up for the first time to the fact that we are not living in the Garden of Eden. And as the song says, “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden”. Like, yesterday. And if we don’t … er, didn’t … then fuck it, the fix is in. Nothing can possibly happen … ever.
I think you might be happier on another planet — but first you’ll have to find it.
and
And here’s the difference between how you think and how I think, priscianus jr.
I am actually a proponent of the idea of a “perfect universe.”
Everything that happens does so in the name of evolution. Everything, from the life and death of stars and galaxies to the life and death of a mushroom spore or an atom. All part of the growth of what someone once described to me as “the life of Life.”
This same person explained to me that this “life of Life” evolves very slowly, because if it didn’t, the whole story would be over in an instant and there would be no “life of Life.” No Life. No nothing. He also referred to the character of real evolutionary change as being much like the “quantum leap” idea in physics. Long periods of little change followed by fairly “sudden change[s] from one energy state to another…”
“As above, so below” say the Sufis. And here’s the bigger picture.
You refer…quite correctly…to WAPO as “that fish wrapper of theirs they call a newspaper.” And I refer…also quite correctly, as far as I am concerned…to the present ruling class on the United States as “The Permanent Government,” to which WAPO is, was and always will be an obedient servant. Watching the sociopolitical scene as I do, I see no evidence whatsoever of any quantum leap sort of activity going on. In fact, what I am seeing is the establishment of a new, more effective method of enforcing a state of stasis where any and all possible changes are squelched by the mass media before they can even begin to come to fruition.
You think that the WAPO article, the Mann/Ornstein attack on the Ratpubs and the supposed shift in policy regarding Iran by the Israelis are signs of some sort of gradual change and I see the creation of a technofascist state where Big Brother has such a friendly face and where “good news” comes racing on down the pike whenever the PremaGov feels the need to further pacify the plebes.
Quantum leap-style change?
All I see is the further intensification of the surveillance state coupled with really high-level use of advertising techniques to keep the voters in line. There were the beginnings of some sort of quantum leap that started during the Arab Spring last year, but that movement has been so well co-opted and controlled…including what is happening in the U.S. with the Occupy thing…that it has essentially fizzled out.
WAPO?
Still a fish wrapper.
It’s just wrapping slightly different fish now.
You know. Fish that has been sanitized so’s it won’t smell so bad?
Like dat.
Bet on it.
No quantum leaps in sight.
Bet on that as well.
Obama?
Please.
Just a new wrapper.
AG
P.S. I really like this planet. I hope to live to see some quantum leaping, myself. But…be careful what you wish for. The “interesting times” in the Chinese curse “May you be born into interesting times” may be interesting, but they are also always highly stressful.
So it goes, and only the brave survive.
I didn’t say anything about a “quantum leap”. To me it’s just a sign of the times. It seems like you’ve already got your narrative, and nothing ever matches up to it. I’m just trying to notice what actually happens.
Off topic BooMan, but knowing of your interest in the Kennedy Assassinations, did you see the CNN article yesterday on RFK’s killing. A witness whose account was altered/repressed has come forward to say there was a second gunman firing at RFK on the night he was shot.
Didn’t see that but, of course, it’s something that pretty much has to be true.
If your interested, I.ll e mail it to you if you give me your e mail address.
you can just send it to admin@boomantribune.com.
CNN’s Soledad O’Brian interviewed this very important and impressive close-by eyewitness who heard 12-14 shots from two directions. Apparently never questioned by Sirhan’s suspiciously incompetent defense team, and only questioned by the FBI a month after the shooting.
Link.
Not until nearly 25 years later, after Prof Phil Melanson interviewed her for his book Shadow Play, did she learn that her statement had been substantially altered by someone in numerous places. The LAPD also failed to put her name on a list of eyewitnesses in the pantry at the time of the events. (see pp 126-8, Shadow Play)
Good on you, man. The assassinations of the 60s and subsequent, nonstop barrage of bullshit is the master-key to this country’s problems.
.
Has investigated the facts of the RFK assassination and diaried as recently as last year … link via BT:
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Thanks for passing this along!!
Of course, unfortunately congress and our government in general is owned/run by corporations. Prime example being the incompetent SEC who for what? 20 years did nothing regarding the Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff.
Until the Madoff fiasco, the SEC’s mission statement actually stated in effect, “We’re here to help financial corporations”… nothing about monitoring them to ensure they were law abiding.
Only recently, with the bust of hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam and related cronies for insider trading, does the SEC appear to be doing what is charged to do.
Regarding Murdoch, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
What Murdoch’s people are doing is corporate espionage. Corporate espionage has grown considerably the past twenty years- if we knew what was actually going on we’d want congress to act, but as I stated above, they’re not going to.
With Murdoch’s phone hacking problem exploding just as his company was poised to takeover BskyB, and that deal now scuttled and possibly gone for good- it’s safe to assume many will think this loss is “sufficient” punishment for Murdoch. We’ll see how it develops.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/tag/raj-rajaratnam/
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/09/10623204-probe-links-corporate-spying-to-chinese-go
vernment?lite